Coping Styles Used by Introverts and Extroverts in
Varying Stress Situations.

Daniella Posella

St. Bonaventure University

Abstract

Extraverted and introverted
personalities often employ different coping strategies that are most conducive
to their needs.It has been found that
introverts tend to be over stimulated by their surrounding in contrast to
extroverts who are found to be under stimulated in their normal environments
(Burger, 2000).Using a coping
mechanism, regardless if passive or active helps an individual deal with the
situation (Burger, 2000).The following
study is a 2 x 2 design with personality (introvert/extravert) as one variables
and stress level (high/low) as the other.It was predicted that main effects would exist for personality and
stress level.This indicates that both
personality and stress level, individually, affect the type of coping mechanism
used.An interaction was also predicted
between personality and stress level on the coping strategy.Extroverts cope more actively as the amount
of stress in a situation increases.This
would conclude that both personality and stress together would also affect the
type of coping mechanism used.The data
collected supported the stated hypotheses.

Coping Styles Used by Introverts and
Extroverts in Varying Stress Situations

Often
times different personalities types deal with stressful situations in distinct
manners.It is important to know which
type of coping style is more effectively useful to specific personality
types.The goal of this research is to
aid individuals in identifying and implementing specific coping mechanisms that
will allow them to deal with situations of varying stress levels.There has been many previous research studies
that have independently discovered the implications of coping styles on
particular personality traits.

Extraverts
and introverts are two of the major personality types that people are often
characterizedEach person is not purely
an introvert or an extravert, but rather fall on a continuum of extroversion
and introversion (Burger, 2000).Extraverts are known to have more outgoing and optimistic personalities
and tend to be more sociable, active, and carefree (Burger, 2000).People high in extroversion orient themselves
outward and enjoy being social and surrounded by other people and objects
(Arndt, 1974).Introverts are at the
opposite end of the spectrum from extraverts.People high in introversion are known to be quieter, more thoughtful,
controlled, and careful (Burger, 2000).According to Carl Jung, introverts orient themselves inward and
establish their behavior based on biased conclusions (Arndt, 1974).In a recent study, Introverts were found to
withdraw socially after an increase in stress, in a recent study(Peters, 1996).These differences in extraverts and introverts cause them to cope with
the situations around them differently.

Often
times during stressful situations individuals employ coping strategies used by
people when they feel threatened and the purpose is to ease one’s anxiety.There are many different types of coping
strategies that are often used by people.The use of a strategy is often dependent upon on the situation
surrounding the person, their personality and one’s own personal preference of
how they may be able to decrease their own anxiety (Burger, 2000).“We sometimes refer to a person’s general
approach to dealing with stress as his or her coping style,” (Burger, 2000
p.147).There are a number of other
variables that determine one’s coping mechanism.

There
are two categories of coping, active coping and passive coping.Emotion focused coping is a type of passive
coping that is directed toward ones feelings and thoughts at the time a problem
or stressful event occur. It is typically used to decrease ones emotional
anxiety regarding a situation (Burger, 2000).Avoidant coping, which is another type of passive coping, occurs when a
person manages their awareness in order to decrease unfavorable emotions.People often overlook stimuli in order to
minimize their stimulation level and stress level (Appelhans & Schmeck,
2002).Problem-focused is an active coping
strategy that is used to decrease anxiety by dealing with the actual problem,
and therefore dealing with the stress by actively helping the problem (Burger,
2000).

Each
personality has a different manner with which they use to cope with the
situation around them, and each coping strategy used is usually based on the
needs of that personality.The event
surrounding the emotions also has an effect on the type of coping strategy each
personality will engage in.When the
situation presented in the Langens and Moerth (2003) study had a low level,
passive, specifically avoidance coping skills were applied.This information indicates that the
circumstances surrounding the event, as well as the personality are indicators
of the type of coping, active or passive, that would be employed by the
individual.Introvert and extrovert
respond to situations with behaviors that correspond to their level of arousal,
in order to produce an optimal outcome in a situation.When people were presented with a situation
with a high level of threat; active coping strategies are often used.When the situation presented in the Langens
and Moerth (2003) study had a low threat level, passive, specifically avoidance
coping skills were applied.This
information indicates that the circumstances surrounding the event, as well as
the personality are indicators of the type of coping , active or passive, that
would be employed by the individual.Introverts
and extroverts respond to situations with behaviors that correspond to their
level of arousal, in order to produce an optimal outcome in a situation.It had been found that the coping behaviors
for introverts in this study are different than that of extroverts, and that
coping is in fact, related to personality (Gallaghar, 1996).Therefore introverts and extroverts have
different methods of coping and they each apply the coping method that causes
them to have the best performance possible.

Extroverts
have been positively correlated with using adaptive coping styles (Baoyong,
2000).Adaptive coping styles are
methods of coping that are flexible and conform to the needs of the situation
or problem, which does not include avoidance.Extroversion has been negatively correlated with avoidance coping,
indicating that passive coping is not significantly used by extroverts
(Bosworth, Feaganes, Vitaliano, Mark, and Siegler, 2001).Introversion, in contrast, has been
correlated with maladaptive manners of coping (Baoyong, 2000).These are coping strategies that are not
conducive to the resolution of the problem or situation, which can also be
known as passive coping strategies.Halammandaris and Power (1999) found that neuroticism, or introversion,
has also been found to be associated with passive coping mechanisms.Introversion has, “often (been) equated with
neuroticism,” which indicates that introversion and passive coping are related
(Bradely, 1996).Introverts use modes
of coping that are primarily passive, focused on emotion, and aimed at the
decrease of stress.Extroverts are found
to typically use more active coping strategies.

A
study done in 2000 has found that aggression is negatively correlated with
avoidance coping behaviors (Blair, 2000).People who tend to be aggressive typically do not use avoidance coping,
a passive coping mechanism (Blair, 2000).On the other hand, people that are highly neurotic, which is “equated”
with introversion, were found to have low verbal aggression and low
apprehension about communication.Extraverts, however, view themselves as aggressive, aware, are often
impulsive communicators, and tend to have a tolerance for arguments (McCroskey
& Heisel, 2001).Therefore,
extroversion and aggression are related, and highly aggressive people typically
do not use passive coping strategies.Introversion was associated with a low level of verbal aggression which
indicates the possibility that they use passive coping.The choice of passive or active coping
strategies are also affected by the level of stress in a situation.Stowell, Kiecolt, and Glaser (2001) found
that situations of higher stress brought about more active coping mechanisms in
people.However, lower stress situations
were found to be significantly associated with more passive coping skills.The level of stress is another variable used
to determine the type of coping strategy a specific personality may
employ.

Hypothesis

In
this study it was attempted to show that introverts, under high stress situations
would have low overall coping scores because they will employ more passive
coping skills.In a low stress situation
introverts will have a medium coping score which indicates that they will need
to employ more passive coping and very little active coping.Introverts have many personality
characteristics that have been highly correlated with the use of more passive
forms of coping. Extraverts will receive high coping scores because they tend
to use active coping skills in situations of high stress.In low stress situation however, extroverts
would have low coping scores because of the under stimulation that the
extrovert will experience.Main effect
are predicted for both independent variables of personality and stress level on
the dependant variable of they type of coping used.An interaction is also predicted between
personality and stress level on the type of coping used.

Methods

Participants

Forty
undergraduate psychology students participated in this study.Twenty of the participants were male, and ten
were labeled as introverted and ten labeled extroverted according to the
personality inventory.Ten of the twenty
female participants were also labeled introverted and ten labeled as
extroverted based on the inventory.Each
participant voluntarily signed up for a time to participate.Each subject received extra credit points, to
be determined by professors, for their participation in this study.

Measures

The
Eysenck personality inventory was administered to each person (Eysenck &
Eysenck, 1975 as cited in Lu & Chen,1996).The inventory was used to determine where on the continuum of
introversion/extroversion each participant fell.As each participant was assigned to a group
they were either administered a sheet containing ten easy or ten hard anagrams,
and asked to complete the task.The
purpose of the anagrams was to administer a low amount of stress, using easy
anagrams, or a high amount of stress, using hard anagrams. After the
participants completed or attempted their task, the Strategic Approach to
Coping Scale (SACS) was administered (Hobfall, Dunahoo, Ben-Porath, &
Monnier 1994).This is a valid and
reliable method of assessing each students passive or active coping
strategy.

ProcedureThe participants first signed a
consent form and as previously stated they were administered the Eysenck
personality inventory to determine each subjects level of introversion or extroversion.Each test was then scored and the
participants were then assigned a label of extrovert or introvert, based on
their scores from the personality inventory.The participants were thenrandomly assigned a sheet containing ten easy or ten difficult anagrams,
which manipulated the participants, stress level.After the participants completed the
anagrams, they were administered the SACS (Strategies Approach to Coping
Scale).At the conclusion of this study
they were given a debriefing statement that informed them of the purpose of
this study and were given an opportunity to ask any questions.

Results

The
results of the study were statistically analyzed using an 2(introversion) x2
(stress levels) between subjects ANOVA (N=40).Each group (n=10) consisted of one personality (introverts or
extraverts) exposed to a high or low stress situations.The mean was 52.3 for introverts in low
stress and a mean of 19.8 for introverts in high stress situations was
found(see Table1).Extroverts had means
of 21.6 and 84.4 for low and high stress situations respectively (see Table
1).After the data was analyzed using an
ANOVA results indicated that there was a main effect regarding the level of
active or passive coping used by eachpersonality
with a value of F(1,36)=15.561, p< .05.This indicates that individuals with
extroverted personalities cope more actively.This suggests that the dependant variable of coping style is
significantly affected by the individuals personality, the independent variable.Stress was also found to have a main effect
and be a significant factor in predicting the level of active or passive coping
with a value of F(1,36)=12.432, p< .05.This indicates that the coping style is also affected by the level of
stress the individual was exposed to.An
interaction between ones personality and the level of stress was also found to
be significant with a value ofF(1,36)=122.980, p<.05.The
analysis also concludes that personality and stress levels together affect the
coping mechanism utilized.

Discussion

These
results are concurrent and found to be significant to those predicted. The
results indicate that there is an interaction between the two independent
variable of extroversion/introversion and their level of stress and the
dependent variable of the type of coping strategy they use.The high levels of stress imposed on
introverts cause them to use more passive coping, and extroverts to use more
active coping.Under lower levels of
stress introverts had medium levels of coping which indicated that more passive
than active coping was present.Under
low stress situations extroverts were found to utilize purely passive coping
skills.

Concurrent
with the previous research that has been done on personality and coping, and
stress and coping, this research indicates that both have significance in the
prediction of the levels of active or passive coping each personality would
utilize.This research may prove
beneficial to aid individuals in selecting coping strategies that would best
fit their personality and stress level of the situation in order to achieve the
optimal outcome.This research is
important to individuals so that they can better deal with situations in a manner
that is more receptive by their personality.This would also allow them to implement coping strategies that are more
effective for their specific personalities and situation.Further research may focus on specific types
of active and passive coping strategies to predict specific coping
rituals.

Halammandaris, K & Power, K
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support and coping with the examination stress.A study of the psychosocial and academic adjustment for first year home students.Personality & Individual Differences,
26, 665-685.